R.E.M.

Chapter 1

She waved her hand in front of her face, the motion blurred in her cloudy mind. Nothing was ever solid in this place, it was always whatever she remembered it to be. This was never much with her terrible memory.

The sky was a deep lavender, and the air smelled thick with the scent of the very same toned flower. Her vision was filled with nothing but blurred together colors, everything far away not keeping any sort of solid shape. It was like a painting that had been created and detailed so perfectly with details so pristine, until the artist decided to smear his biggest brush over the canvas and ruin everything he'd made. A tragedy in that case, but in this one, she felt at home. Her world was so familiar to her she knew she could run here whenever things got bad. But now, things had to end soon. She heard a song playing in the distance and knew her time was up. The sweet melody began to increase until it was no longer sweet, and her world began to rumble. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let herself descend back into the waking nerves of her mind and out of her sleep.

The tunes were soothing, but the volume was annoying in the early morning silence. Her phone blinked off to her side, signifying the end of her comforting slumber. It continued for a few more seconds before Melia finally had enough strength to lazily smack it with the side of her hand to stop the ringing, at least for a little while. She hated snooze, but it kept her somewhat punctual.

She lied in bed for a few more minutes, then when the alarm screamed its tune again, she forced herself to remove the covers and stick her bare leg out of bed.

"Uuggghhh" she groaned loudly to only herself as if to protest to the universe that she did not want to get out of bed today. Of course, the universe wouldn't listen, as the universe did not care. She forcefully removed the covers off of her, met instantly with the chills of the bitter cold winter in her unheated home. Her body twitched slightly at the touch of the air, but still, she pressed on. Melia rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She put her hands on the squeaky bed behind her, and weakly pushed herself off the side of the bed. Her skin stung against the plummeting temperatures as the warmth of her blanket began to fade away. Her arm hairs stood on end, and every bone in her body screamed to 'go back! We want to sleep! We want to be warm!'.

Her walk to the bathroom in the morning was hardly pleasant. She'd learned at this point to keep far away from corners and edges of furniture in her room and through the hall, knowing her drunk-like morning stumbling would only lead to her accidentally jabbing some part of her body into said corners. 'One step before the other', she thought. She walked about ten steps, hitting only a single bedpost on her way to the bathroom to stare at her tired face in the mirror in an attempt to fix it before the day started. A new record if she did say so herself.

Her short brown curly hair was completely mussed, stray aways flying every which way they could and all knots looking as though they probably weren't going to come out for the next year. She ran her fingers through her hair for a few seconds, then decided that was as good as it was getting.

Other than her hair, she felt much too tired to work with anything else about her appearance. She grimaced at her tired, droopy reflection, in all its early hour ugliness, deciding it was going to stay this way until her body decided to wake up. No point in putting any more effort in if she didn't care in the first place. Melia picked up her toothbrush and scrubbed her teeth as hard as possible, then went off to go get dressed. If she could wear a blanket all day she would, but she had to settle with just a sweater and jeans.

Melia passed the kitchen without giving it a second look, just picked up her bags she'd set out on the table the night before. She looked in the worn woven bag and made sure her laptop and last night's homework were all where they should be, then headed out. Her door creaked as she opened it, and the outside air gusted in. This time though, her thick sweater protected her, and she walked out tired but prepared against the cold.

The sky was dark, and the air as stale and smokey as ever. It would have been about two years now since any rain had passed by her town, which was clearly shown in just how sooty the air smelled upon inhaling. Melia breathed it in anyways.

She stepped out of the confines of her home, now under the morning stars' jurisdiction, and began to walk. She liked it this way, dark and quiet. Most would have been afraid to walk her route, but something about the hollow empty sound of a quiet person-less walk to school was comforting for her. It was like sleep for her, it gave her time to think clearly and not have to put her mind to other things, like talking. During these early hours, her mind wandered down every path, ranging from curiosity about the reason she lived her life to what she was having for lunch that day.  

She never wore headphones on mornings like these. She preferred to take the morning's silent atmosphere in, without the natural noises filtered through plastic buds. She took her earbuds out of her pocket where she'd left them yesterday, and stuffed them in her bag where she'd find them later during school.

School. School... She thought. She'd probably nap there come eight o clock in her English class after she'd turned in her homework. Maybe she would see one of her friends there if they decided to actually attend today, so she hoped.

The rest of the walk to her school was calm, as was walking in until the day would officially have to start and her quiet dreamlike morning was gone.